Newport City FC Vs. Carmarthen Town – Welsh Cup Preview
Newport City will play Carmarthen Town at Newport Stadium in the second round of the Welsh Cup at 2:30 pm on Saturday.
Up to this point
To provide some background to how things went up to this point, Newport City began their Welsh Cup campaign by drawing to Cefn Fforest FC away in the first qualifying round but won the game on penalties.
They then faced Undy AFC at home and progressed through the qualifying in what was an incredibly entertaining nine-goal thriller – City won 5-4 right at the end of the game. Finally, the previous game the club played in the competition was the first round against Cefn Cribwr away – which saw a big 2-1 win.
Overall, though, The Steelmen are in mixed form and in the league, things are very different. In the Ardal south-east division, seven games have seen seven losses. The last game was a 3-0 defeat to Treherbert Boys and Girls FC in the FAW Amateur Trophy.
Opposition
Carmarthen are in good form and very much favourites – they sit currently at 5th in the Cymru South. Last season, they finished 5th in the league too.
Mark Aizlewood’s team have won 3 out of their last 5 games, their last fixture being a 3-0 loss at home to Afan Lido away. However, they did enjoy a big 5-0 away win over Swansea Uni the match before.
Manager’s verdict
Newport City FC manager and chairman Sam Houldsworth had this to say ahead of the match:
“Carmarthen heading to Newport Stadium, since I’ve taken over at the club, is the furthest we’ve got to in the Welsh Cup and getting to the second round is a big achievement.
“Given our form and our league performances, it’s a huge opportunity to make a change and start getting our confidence higher and our performances better. We haven’t been dreadful in the way that we’ve performed but we’re not scoring goals and we’re always conceding goals. Coming up against Carmarthen, we have to be at our best and hope that they aren’t performing and playing really well.
“If we can get a mix of us playing really well, cutting out our mistakes and them not having such a good game then we could be in for an upset, but we know there’s a very small chance of this happening. We’re gonna go into the game and just enjoy the day – if we get anything from it it’s a bonus. Hopefully, we’ve got a good crowd coming.
“We want to welcome Carmarthen, we respect them as a club. They’re certainly a massive name in Welsh football and clearly a very well-run club. I’m really looking forward to the task of taking on such a good team. Miracles do happen and hopefully, we have one on Saturday”